Hemp News No. 35

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Without further ado, please enjoy the news:
07/29/95 PAT BUCHANAN SUPPORTS MEDICINAL MARIJUANA
_The Charlotte Observer_
Charlotte, North Carolina
Saturday, July 29, 1995
page 12C
Question: "Would you support the medical use of marijuana?" -- Rick Doblin,
Charlotte
Answer: "If a doctor indicated to his patient that this was the only way to
alleviate certain painful symptoms ... I would defer to the doctor's
judgement."
UPwe 07/31/95 Why some anti-drug programs work
LOS ANGELES, July 31 (UPI) -- Programs to teach children to say no to drugs
are effective in schools where peer pressure to say yes is limited but could be
harmful if they make teenagers overestimate drug use in their school, causing
them to want to join the crowd, researchers said Monday.
The study, published in Health Psychology, counters recent reports of the
ineffectiveness of such school-based drug prevention programs as the widely
implemented Project DARE.
The authors, from the University of Southern California, Pennsylvania State
University and Wake Forrest University in Winston Salem, N.C., noted vast
differences emerged in their study between public and private Catholic schools.
"The results of this study illustrate that drug abuse prevention is rather
complex and success is highly dependent on the environment in which programs
are implemented," said lead study author Stewart Donaldson, USC associate
professor of preventive medicine. "Many previous studies have not addressed
that complexity."
Programs teaching children how to resist pressure to drink or try drugs work
best when adolescents believe their peers will agree that it is okay to refuse,
said John Graham of Penn State.
"This finding was consistent across the grade levels studied and provides a
means to understand why previous research on resistance training may have
revealed little or no effect," said Andrea Piccinin of USC.
"The student's estimates of alcohol and drug use were significantly lower in
private Catholic schools than in public schools. Adolescents in the private
Catholic schools also reported significantly lower levels of cigarette and
marijuana use than public school students," Donaldson said.
On the down side, the study of 11,995 students from more than 130 schools in
Los Angeles and San Diego counties found such programs could be potentially
harmful if they lead to the adolescents overestimating drug use at their school.
"Leaving uncorrected, such estimates may reinforce the notion that drugs are
okay and hasten the onset of alcohol and drug use," said William Hansen of Wake
Forrest.
"It is important to note that this harmful effect did not occur in the
private Catholic schools we studied," Donaldson said.
The nearly 12,000 students in the study were participants in a school-based
alcohol and drug abuse prevention trial funded by the National Institute
of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
(Written by UPI Science Writer Lidia Wasowicz in San Francisco)
213-342-2830
8/01/95 Smokin'
UPI - Even members of the Republican administration in Springfield find
themselves making jokes about Lt. Gov. Bob Kustra's admission that he once
smoked dope. Agriculture Secretary Becky Doyle brought it up during Wednesday's
press tour at the State Fairgrounds. Doyle pointed out that Kustra is sponsoring
a computer exhibit that will allow fairgoers to get on the World Wide Web. Said
Doyle: "Yes, Bob Kustra has tried Internet. He did not inhale Internet but he
did enjoy Internet."
------
Smokin' Part II: Scribes in the Statehouse press room suggest Kustra and
fellow GOPer Al Salvi, who also admits smoking marijuana when he was younger,
could draw bigger crowds when they make joint appearances on the same stage by
billing themselves as the "Doobie Brothers." Too bad that name's already
taken.
------
Spaced out: Lt. Gov. Bob Kustra's announcement this week of a new
anti-marijuana campaign, and his admission that he smoked the evil weed at a
younger age was followed by an unrelated press release from Kustra's office on
Wednesday touting a cyberspace exhibit at the Illinois State Fair. But
Statehouse press room pundits were quick to link the messages from the lite
guv's office, suggesting Kustra could offer some advise on how to cruise
cyberspace without the use of a computer.
------
Spaced, Part II: Kustra's not the only U.S. Senate hopeful to admit
experimenting with marijuana. State Rep. Al Salvi, R-Wauconda, and former
State Treasurer Patrick Quinn both say they smoked dope at one time. The
admissions prompted the bogus announcement from the playful staff at the
Statehouse press room that the Kustra and Salvi campaigns had said the two
Republicans would not be planning any "joint" appearances.
------
APf 08/01/95 Hemp Store
By ANNE WALLACE
Associated Press Writer
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) -- At the Vermont Hemporium, there are huge balls of
hemp twine. There is honey-chocolate chip ice cream made from hemp. There are
sandals, shorts, hats, and shirts -- all constructed of cannabis.
Wow, man. Far out.
But not illegally far out. The Hemporium sells everything made from"The most
amazing and beneficial plant known to mankind," as a sign proclaims on the
store's back wall, except the thing that might interest the authorities.
Not that the store's owner and proprietor, Joe Shimek, objects to hemp's most
infamous use -- far from it. Dry the weed's leaves and flowers, grind them, and
you have marijuana, and that's just fine with him.
But to Shimek, hemp is more than a controlled substance. It's a cause.
"The thing about hemp is that it's four times more durable than cotton,"
said Shimek, a native of Wisconsin. "In the agriculture world, over 50 percent
of all chemicals and pesticides go into making cotton; hemp will grow with
no pesticides and no fertilizer."
Hemp, or Cannabis Sativa, can be grown again and again on the same land,
said Shimek, who has a license to import it, and whose activities at the
Hemporium are legal. The cloth repels water, and doesn't mildew. Its pulp can
be made into paper, saving forests.
Not only that, but hemp has played a long and distinguished role in America's
past. Hemp historians say the original copy of the U.S. Constitution was written
on hemp paper. In letters to people overseas, George Washington wrote fondly of
the hemp plant and its flowers, Shimek said. And when George Bush bailed out of
his airplane in World War II, Shimek added, hemp ropes were there on his
parachute to carry him to safety.
"Hemp saved George Bush's life," said Shimek.
With all this going for it, why was hemp cultivation outlawed in the United
States in the 1930s?
"Mass hysteria," says Shimek.
But he prefers to accentuate the positive, and profit from it. He set up
shop in downtown Burlington in April, offering an array of products made
from the tough stem of the hemp plant -- boots, bags, dog leashes and collars,
paper products, and jewelry, even soap and lip salve made from hemp oil.
Hemp lost some of its standing as a practical, tough weed after it was
driven underground by legislators. These days, the first applications that
come to mind are more, well, recreational. That's a side of the weed the Vermont
Hemporiam doesn't emphasize. But Shimek doesn't hide from it either.
"I do smoke pot, and I'm proud of it," Shimek said. He needs it for "stress
reduction. If I don't get my stress reduction daily, I become more or less a
bear."
But what if the police find out?
Shimek shrugs. "They already know I use cannabis. I own a hemp store."
But he doesn't sell bongs, or anything else used to smoke the weed.
"I wouldn't confuse the issues," he explained.
Shimek, 25, could be the poster child for the hemp movement. Tall, calm,
bespectacled, today he's wearing an elegant hemp shirt that looks like ironed
black linen. He's articulate, unflustered and passionate about his cause.
The store itself is a peaceful place. It's a little bit dark, and it's cool.
The walls are blue. On the stereo, Midwestern folk singer Greg Brown sings,
"Make hay while the sun shines."
Or something.
Most of the visitors are young, and many are in tie-dyed clothing. One is a
dog with a bandanna around its neck. Some come in for one of the monster balls
of the twine advertised outside; others drift in just for a look. At times the
conversation does, well, wander; one cash register transaction seems to take a
long, long time. Maybe that's because it's still early. With store hours of
noon to 10 p.m., 2 p.m. is practically opening time.
But one thing's for sure: Down at this end of Church Street, surrounded by
homes, a restaurant and bars, the Hemporium is doing a brisk business. Later,
Shimek hopes he'll be able to expand his catalogue sales -- now limited mainly
to hemp hats -- and parlay hemp's economic success into legitimacy for the weed.
Meanwhile, the Hemporium employs 15 seamstresses and a part-time sales force
of four. Shimek helps produce a weekly cable television show promoting the
legalization of industrial hemp and works continuously to spread his message in
and out of the store.
He acknowledges winning widespread acceptance of the weed will be an uphill
battle. Is it all worth it?
"I'm here for the safest drug on the planet," Shimek says. "And hey, we're
paying our bills around here. We're paying taxes."
End Adv for Tues AMs, Aug. 1
RTw 08/03/95 POLICE SCANDAL AFTER OFFICERS ARRESTED IN DRUG SCAM
BOGOTA, Aug 3 (Reuter) - Thirty officers stationed at Bogota's international
airport have been arrested and accused of helping cocaine couriers thwart
airport security in return for big bribes, the CMI television news programme
reported Wednesday evening.
A National Police official confirmed to Reuters that the colonel in charge
of airport security -- Leonel Mendoza -- and an unspecified number of airport
police had been suspended from their jobs pending an investigation. The
official, who asked to remain anonymous, declined to comment further, saying the
matter was in the hands of prosecutors.
CMI said police at the airport, who search passengers boarding flights
abroad for drugs and use sniffer dogs to check baggage, allegedly took payments
from traffickers in return for allowing travelers carrying narcotics to board
international flights.
The scandal was uncovered when five police officers who refused to
participate in the scam were fired from their airport jobs by the colonel and
decided to tell the prosecutor's office what was going on, CMI added.
Prosecutors ordered surveillance of the airport police, uncovered the
bribery and immediately ordered the arrest of 30 police accused of involvement,
CMI said.
Colombia is the world's top exporter of cocaine, one of the biggest sellers
of marijuana and a growing player in the heroin trade. Large amounts of cocaine
and heroin are smuggled out of the country concealed in the luggage or bodies of
couriers paid by drug barons.
REUTER
"In Germany they first came for the Communists and I didn't speak up
because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I
didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade
unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was
a Protestant. Then they came for me--and by that time no one was left
to speak up." -- Pastor Martin Niemoller.
"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good
thing....It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of
government....God forbid that we should ever be twenty years
without such a rebellion...." [p.94, Thomas Jefferson, letter
to a friend in reference to Shays' Rebellion, ca. 1780]
"Throughout the history of mankind there have been murderers and
tyrants; and while it may seem momentarily that they have the upper
hand, they have always fallen. Always." -- M.K. Gandhi, Lawyer,
philosopher & peace activist.
APn 08/04/95 Mexico-Marijuana
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Authorities are calling it one of the most important drug
seizures in Mexican history.
Federal agents seized and burned more than 3.6 million marijuana plants from
a 220-acre field in the northern state of Chihuahua, the Attorney General's
Office said Wednesday.
It did not say when the seizure occurred or when the plants were destroyed.
Agents were tipped off by an anonymous telephone caller, and eight suspected
drug traffickers were arrested, authorities said.
Federal agents last month seized more than 26 tons of marijuana in
northwestern Sonora state after surveillance pilots flying over the area spotted
fields where the drug was being grown.
Agents in Sonora also seized weapons and arrested nine men suspected of
growing and packaging the drug for transport to the United States.
APn 08/05/95 Judge Arrested
CLEVELAND (AP) -- A judge who has said he favors legalizing drugs is charged
with attempting to distribute cocaine.
Common Pleas Judge Michael Gallagher, 39, appeared in handcuffs before a
federal magistrate Friday and was released pending an Aug. 21 hearing. If
convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
He was arrested and his house searched on Thursday.
Court papers said an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent met
with him on July 21 and watched him smoke crack. Several days later, the agent
was invited to the judge's house to buy cocaine. Gallagher asked the agent to
inhale cocaine to prove he wasn't a cop, and was arrested, Assistant U.S.
Attorney William Edwards said in an affidavit.
Gallagher, a Republican elected in 1991, was suspended on Friday, said the
Cuyahoga County court administrator, William L. Danko.
Gallagher once said, after granting early probation to a teacher sentenced to
18 months on a drug charge, that he favored legalizing drugs but would follow
state sentencing guidelines.
Neither Gallagher nor his lawyer had any comment.
APf 08/05/95 Workplace Drugs
By DINAH WISENBERG BRIN
Associated Press Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Positive tests for drug use among American workers and
job applicants is continuing downward, except for marijuana, a major testing lab
reports.
SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories, which collects fees for performing
worker drug tests, found that 7.8 percent of 1.8 million workers tested positive
for drug use between January and June -- down from 8.5 percent for the same
period last year.
If the trend holds true for the rest of the year, it would be the seventh
straight decline among those who underwent SmithKline tests, the company said.
Among those who tested positive, the rate of positive marijuana tests rose
8.8 percent from last year, to 43.3 percent of all positive drug tests, the
company said.
SmithKline spokeswoman Tobey Dichter said a majority of the people tested
were job applicants and therefore knew they would be screened for drugs soon.
That could skew the results in favor of higher marijuana use since it can be
detected even months after use while many other drugs are expelled from the body
more quickly.
SmithKline said it has no opinion on the reasons for the trend but Milo C.
Sawvel, director emeritus of the National Committee for the Prevention of
Alcoholism and Drug Dependency in Appomattox, Va., offered several possible
reasons.
"A lot of people feel that marijuana is not quite, well, let's say as
addictive and strong on its impact ... and so they turn to that rather than the
use of cocaine, heroin, some of the others," he said.
"A marijuana user feels that he or she can function better with a little
marijuana use. Studies, though, reveal that this is not true," Sawvel said.
"Unfortunately it does do harm."
The SmithKline statistics showed that 24.3 percent of the positive tests
indicated cocaine use; 11.5 percent tranquilizers such as valium and librium;
8.9 percent opiates; and 4.5 percent barbituates. Cocaine use was down slightly.
Transportation workers in safety-sensitive jobs had a 3.2 percent positive
drug test rate, compared to 9.2 percent for the general workforce, SmithKline
reported. More than half the transportation workers who tested positive showed
marijuana use.
Last month, the Clinton administration reported that Americans' use of
illegal drugs leveled off last year after 13 years of decline. Based on
household surveys, the government estimated that three-quarters of the 11.7
million drug users use marijuana, with 7 million of them using marijuana alone.
RTw 08/05/95 POLICEMAN ARRESTED IN HUGE AUSTRALIA CANNABIS HAUL
SYDNEY, Aug 5 (Reuter) - A serving drug squad police officer was among 18
people arrested on Friday in what a police spokesman said could prove to be
Australia's largest-ever drug haul.
Several tonnes of cannabis resin originating in the Middle East, as well as
illegal firearms, were seized from several boats in the tourist town of Hervey
Bay, 250 km (155 miles) north of Brisbane on Australia's east coast, a spokesman
for the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said.
"Further inquiries are being pursued in relation to the source of the
drugs," the spokesman said, adding that both AFP officers and overseas law
enforcement personnel were involved.
He said the arrests of the Australians and seizure were the result of the
largest investigation ever undertaken by the AFP, Australia's national police
force. The investigation had lasted for more than two years, he said.
Arrests had been made in the states of Queensland, where the cannabis was
seized, New South Wales and Victoria, and more would be made, he said.
The crew of an Australian-registered trawler MV Paulsun and those of
smaller vessels to which cannabis had been unloaded were arrested following
lengthy surveillance, he said.
Among those arrested in Sydney was a serving member of the AFP's Drug
Operations Division," an AFP statement said.
Seven people appeared in Sydney's central local court in relation to the
haul. The serving policeman was named as George Sabados, 27, of Sydney.
Two of those arrested were granted bail. Sabados and four others were
remanded in custody. All will reappear in court on August 12.
REUTER
AAP 08/05/95 SA DEMOCRATS CALL FOR END TO MARIJUANA PROHIBITION
ADELAIDE, Aug 5 AAP - Marijuana and illicit drugs should be legalised for
medicinal purposes so they could be used in the treatment of glaucoma,
AIDS-related diseases and cancer, the Australian Democrats' South Australian
leader said today.
Mike Elliott made the comments to a rally of around 500 protesters gathered
at the steps of SA's Parliament House to call for marijuana to be legalised.
The group was also addressed by representatives of the Help End Marijuana
Prohibition (HEMP) party, who ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the state's
Upper House at last year's election.
A number of protesters wore masks impersonating Liberal Leader Alexander
Downer and Health Minister Carmen Lawrence -- who have both admitted to trying
marijuana.
Mr Elliott, a member of the state Upper House who heads a select
parliamentary committee looking into the issue of legalising drugs, told the
group it was Democrat policy to legalise and decriminalise marijuana and
illicit drugs for personal use.
He also called for marijuana and illicit drugs to be legalised for medicinal
purposes.
"Marijuana can be used for the treatment of glaucoma, which won't respond to
other drugs, and is used for the treatment of some cancer and AIDS patients,
yet it is not allowed to be used," he said.
"It's the best drug for certain purposes, and that ... is an absolute
absurdity.
"It's important that the process of education continues because some of the
strongest opponents of marijuana are those who know absolutely nothing
whatsoever about it."
Mr Elliott said he hoped the committee would report back to parliament with
recommendations by the end of the year.
He said he was also a member of a national parliamentary law reform group
which would be calling for the legalisation of marijuana for medicinal
purposes.
The rally follows Hemp Week, which included a conference, a series of
student meetings, and a "smoke-in" at Flinders University in Adelaide.
AAP ear/co
UPma 08/06/95 If you grow it, they will come
HILLSBORO, Ohio, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Marijuana growers are moving into Highland
County, looking for corn as high as an elephant's eye -- the perfect spot to
hide a few illegal pot plants, said Sheriff Tom Horst.
The growers like the corn not only because it hides the distinctive marijuana
plants, but also because corn farmers use the best fertilizers for their crops.
"It's the same nutrients that marijuana needs to grow in abundance," Horst
told the Columbus Dispatch. "A cornfield lends itself quite well to growing
marijuana."
This year's marijuana crop, like this year's corn crop, already is well
along. "They planted probably six weeks ago," he said. The optimum months for
planting are April and May, but marijuana farmers always give the corn a head
start to ensure that their illegal plants remain below the growing corn.
An average seven-foot-tall marijuana plant can yield 12 ounces of marijuana,
enough to bring in $800 to $1,200 on the street, Horst said. The pot growers
will harvest the plants usually before Labor Day, before the corn farmer moves
in to harvest his corn crop.
The pot growers pose enough of a problem to corn farmers that Horst gave a
seminar last winter to about 70 farmers. While the farmers are not at risk of
being charged with crime, Horst said pot growers often booby-trap their crops
with fishhooks, bear traps and other devices.
Deputies also have found sharpened wooden stakes and boards filled with
spikes concealed where unwary intruders could step on them, he said.
Since the start of this decade, deputies have found and destroyed an average
of 5,000 marijuana plants a year in Highland County. But either deputies are
scaring away growers or the plants have become harder to find. In 1994, searches
turned up only 2,600 plants. So far this year, deputies have found only about 100.
APn 08/07/95 Lawyer Probe
By DAVID GRAM
Associated Press Writer
CAVENDISH, Vt. (AP) -- In one Vermont Fourth of July parade, a float honored
Will Hunter -- former legislator, defender of the poor and downtrodden, and
suspected launderer of drug money.
A hand-lettered sign hanging from the side of Harold Singleton's '64
Thunderbird identified its sponsors as "Concerned Citizens For The Rights of
Will Hunter." There are many of them.
Like Mary Karvonen, a retired factory worker. She stands amid the clutter of
children's toys in the living room where Hunter often meets his law clients; she
waits until Hunter steps away before offering her view.
"You know I don't believe it," she says, "because if I did I wouldn't be
here. I trust him completely. He's always done right by me."
But in the pre-dawn hours of June 9, six federal agents and a government
lawyer banged on the door of the modest yellow farmhouse where Hunter has his
office, and where he lives with his wife April Hensel and three children.
They were armed with a warrant and affidavits saying Hunter had been helping
a drug dealer invest his money in real estate. They searched the house, shining
flashlights in the bedrooms where the children slept. They seized four computers
to check them for records of illicit dealings.
Six weeks later, Hunter still has not been charged with a crime. A federal
grand jury is said to be weighing evidence against him.
His wife scoffs at the accusations. Drug money laundering is motivated by
greed, she said, but Hunter's career is marked by a disregard for money.
"That's why this whole thing is so ludicrous," she said. "If he wanted to
make money, all he would have to do is charge people the going rate and not
serve the kinds of clients he's serving."
The 41-year-old Hunter, a graduate of Yale and Harvard Law School, Rhodes
Scholar, former state representative and senator, is a man known as a bighearted
defender of the despised and would-be redeemer of the hopeless.
He nearly wept three years ago as he pleaded with a judge to be lenient with
a man convicted of sexually molesting a 15-year-old girl. Now, he occasionally
drives the man's three children three hours to the state prison in St. Albans to
visit their father.
"I know everybody thinks he's an ogre," said Hunter, son of a Congregational
minister. "But he's got another side to him that most people don't see. I really
believe in the redemption of people. If you give them a chance, they would much
rather succeed than not."
Hunter says he makes about $20,000 a year representing usually poor and
working class Vermonters for rates ranging from zero to $85 an hour. He drives a
rusting Mazda economy car and wears rumpled clothing.
Out front of his home and office there's a weathered sign that should be
hanging somewhere but instead rests on the grass, leaning against the
clapboards. It says, "William A. Hunter, Attorney-At-Law. Parking in Rear."
Until now, the biggest trouble the famously disorganized Hunter had faced was
with the state board that disciplines lawyers. He had been chastised for failing
to return clients' phone calls and otherwise keep up with his work, and advised
to lighten his load of cases.
Now, though, agents say he helped Frank H. Sargent Jr., an alleged
"large-scale cocaine and marijuana trafficker" in nearby Windsor, launder drug
profits through real estate transactions.
Sargent, 27, and two associates were indicted on drug charges June 8.
Affidavits on file at U.S. District Court in Burlington say Hunter was president
of a company, Connecticut Realty Trust, that managed several properties owned by
Sargent.
"It is clear ... that Sargent and Hunter had worked together to launder
Sargent's money and that they used CRT for that purpose," said a court affidavit
written by James Bradley, agent-in-charge for the Drug Enforcement
Administration in Vermont.
Hunter said in an interview that he knew that Sargent had a 1990 drug
conviction, and that he saw his client's work with CRT as an effort to get a
business going and turn his life around. He said the properties Sargent was
buying and renovating were mostly tiny houses in rough shape -- one sold for
$8,000 -- and that Sargent didn't seem like a high roller.
Hunter said Sargent had told him a construction crew he used to renovate his
properties consisted entirely of people with past felony convictions. He was
attracted, he said, by what appeared to be the redemptive aspects of the CRT
project.
"We were really creating something out of nothing," Hunter said.
Government agents also said an unnamed informant told them Hunter, Sargent
and an alleged "drug customer" of Sargent's, Gloria Radcliffe, met last
November, and "Sargent told Radcliffe that Hunter cleaned up or `washed' his
money, that he had been doing so for years."
Hunter denied that any such meeting took place.
The government's seizure of four of Hunter's computers -- he's since gotten
them back, but assumes their contents have been copied entirely -- put a severe
crimp in his dealings with other clients and in his work as publisher of the
newsletter Vermont Law Week.
Some of his supporters harbor deep suspicions about the government's actions.
John Singleton, a 45-year-old carpenter and an organizer of the parade float,
had some questions for the government: "Hey, did you guys give this plenty of
thought? Did you think you might have overextended your powers?"
And authorities' assertions that they will respect confidentiality and
lawyer-client privilege do not assure storekeeper Joe Allen.
"Yeah, like I'm supposed to trust the government," Allen said. "They did a
real good job in Waco."
AAP 08/07/95 NSW: DRUGS HERE TO STAY, REFORM NEEDED - BAUME
The Australian Associated Press
SYDNEY, Aug 7 AAP - The likelihood that currently illegal drugs would have a
long-term presence in Australia and that drug prohibition laws had failed
should be acknowledged, former senator Peter Baume said today.
Speaking at a public meeting of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation's
Legal Committee in Sydney, Professor Baume, a federal Liberal member of
parliament between 1974 and 1991, suggested that drug reform efforts should
operate from the assumption that drugs were a fact of life in Australia.
"Mightn't we accept as a starting point that we are a drug-using society,
that we've always been a drug-using society, that we are going to be a
drug-using society forever?," he said. "The moment we did that, we would have a
different basis for working out what to do." A drug reform campaigner for the
past 20 years and now chair of the Drug Offensive Council of New South Wales
and a part-time Commissioner with the Australian Law Reform Commission,
Professor Baume said the drug debate in Australia was "abysmally bad" and
littered with lies and misinformation.
"People who should know better present accounts that are simply at variance
with the truth," he said. Not only had legal prohibition failed to eradicate the
importation, sale and use of drugs, he said, it had also bred corruption and
exposed young people experimenting with drugs to criminal elements.
"The current system does not produce what its proponents hold out as its
goal," Professor Baume said.
"It forces young people, it forced my kids, to have contact with criminals
if they wanted to obtain some cannabis.
"Prohibition as a policy may make property crime and personal crime more
frequent than it otherwise would be, so, far from achieving the protection of
society, it seems to expose it to extra problems. "Our laws have been a great
failure."
Chairman of the foundation, Steve Bolt, said the group was not advocating
drug use but believed there was strong sentiment in favour of drug law reform
within Australia's legal community and in the community at large.
"There's a fair bit of money to be made out of drug law - defending drug
cases, prosecuting drug cases - and I think it's to the legal profession's
credit that there's a lot of support for reforming the drug laws," he told AAP.
The foundation proposes a system of "harm minimisation" where drugs such as
marijuana, heroin, cocaine and amphetamines would be available through
controlled, legal suppliers.
"I think there is also a mood, a drift in Australia for change. I think
people realise more and more that prohibition isn't the right way to go," Mr
Bolt added.
"I think what people are seeing is that they don't personally believe in
drug use but they're recognising that it's impossible to stop it and that's the
key.
"While we may not agree with the behaviour, it is happening and we need a
more sophisticated approach to try and deal with it." The foundation was set up
nationally 12 months ago to support the Australian Parliamentary Group for Drug
Law Reform.
AAP lc/dep/
PA 08/09/95 MAN GREW CANNABIS NEXT TO MOTORWAY
PA News
Robert Wessely grew his own cannabis...along the side of one of Britain's
busiest motorways.
But his drugs operation backfired when traffic police caught him watering
the plants from a nearby stream.
Magistrates heard today how Wessely planted eight of the plants along the M4
near Maidenhead, Berks, and even brought in peat to speed their growth.
The 22-year-old from Long Reddings Lane, Slough, Berks, was fined 200 after
he admitted cultivation and possession of the cannabis plants.
A charge of possession with intent to supply the drug was dropped.
The Maidenhead court heard today how patrolling police officers spotted
Wessely on the hard shoulder.
Prosecutor Karen Bird said: "The officer saw Wessely with a large bucket with
a piece of rope attached to it.
"He was trying to get some water from a nearby stream. They then found the
cannabis plants in a clearing on the embankment of the motorway."
"Some of the plants had just been watered and they had been planted quite
recently.
"They were three feet high and well developed."
Rhoda Nikolay, defending, told the magistrates that the eight plants would
not produce a substantial amount of cannabis and were purely for his own
personal use.
He was also ordered to pay 25 costs. The cannabis was ordered to be
destroyed.
[circa 08/09/95] Ohio pot growers use cornfields
If corn farmers grow it, they will come.
No, not baseball players -- marijuana growers. In Highland County, Ohio, pot
growers hiding their crop in cornfields are beginning to become a problem.
Sheriff Tom Horst said pot growers like cornfields because the tall corn
hides the marijuana and because corn farmers provide all the fertilizer. One pot
plant can be worth about $1,000 to a grower.
Horst warned farmers that some pot growers booby-trap their plants with
fishhooks at eye level, sharpened stakes and other devices. Since the beginning
of the decade, marijuana eradication efforts in Ohio have destroyed about 5,000
pot plants each year.
(End-of-UPI-Midwestern-Farm-Show)
APn 08/10/95 Marijuana Compassion Clubs
By TIM WHITMIRE
Associated Press Writer
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- As Todd McCormick sits in an Ohio jail, charged with
possessing 31 pounds of marijuana, he eagerly awaits the day when he can resume
giving away the drug.
McCormick and his girlfriend were arrested while driving from San Diego to
Providence to start a "compassion club" for seriously ill people who use
marijuana to dull their pain.
"When I get home this time, I'm going nuts," McCormick, 25, said in a
telephone interview from the Correction Center of Northwest Ohio in Stryker.
"I'll have fields in my front yard. ... I'm going ballistic, no holds barred. If
they want to come get me, put me in jail, so be it."
McCormick estimates there are between 30 and 50 compassion clubs across the
country. The 3,200-member San Francisco Cannabis Buyer's Club is believed to be
the largest such group.
The clubs are organized by people who grow marijuana and then visit support
groups for patients with AIDS and other diseases. They offer the drug for free
or very cheaply.
McCormick, who runs the 20-member San Diego Compassionate Use Club, said
members must provide photo identification and a doctor's letter describing their
condition. They also must sign a statement indicating they know they are
breaking the law.
The Drug Enforcement Administration says it is aware of compassion clubs but
has not targeted them for enforcement.
The Food and Drug Administration has granted marijuana prescriptions to 15
people suffering from cancer, AIDS, spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis and
glaucoma. Seven have since died.
The Bush administration put a stop to medical testing and medical use of
marijuana in 1992, saying it could harm patients who had safer alternatives. The
Clinton administration upheld the ban last year.
"Sound scientific studies supporting these claims are lacking despite
anecdotal claims that smoked marijuana is beneficial," Assistant Health
Secretary Philip Lee said in announcing the decision to members of Congress who
support medical marijuana use.
But McCormick says there are studies which claim marijuana can ease the pain
of cancer and AIDS treatments, alleviate muscle spasms for people with spinal
cord injuries and relieve the eye pressure that blinds glaucoma sufferers.
He has used marijuana to ease the pain of Histiocytosis X, a cancerous
overgrowth of the cells that normally protect people from infection. The disease
attacks bone marrow, the blood, liver and spleen. McCormick had the first five
vertebrae of his spine fused when he was 2 and underwent eight more operations
over the next seven years.
McCormick, who was in constant pain, first discovered marijuana while riding
in a car with his mother as she smoked it. "I went from not wanting to do
anything to `Can I go out and play?'" he said.
He said marijuana reduced the nausea and loss of appetite caused by radiation
treatments and chemotherapy. He continued to use it after his cancer went into
remission because it eased the pain from his fused vertebrae and the side
effects of radiation treatments, which stunted the growth of his left hip,
leaving his left leg two inches shorter than the right.
"(Marijuana) sets your mind at ease which sets your body at ease which allows
your body to heal," McCormick said. "If I don't have cannabis it's too
uncomfortable to stretch. It dulls the pain enough that I can sit and
concentrate on movement."
McCormick and Natalie Byrd were pulled over July 18 by an Ohio state trooper
because the curtains on their van were drawn, blocking the rear view. Three days
later, Drug Enforcement Agents raided McCormick's San Diego club, seizing
marijuana, growing tools and signatures supporting a California ballot
initiative to legalize marijuana.
McCormick and Byrd, who were both still jailed today, could get up to 30
years in prison if convicted of drug possession. Whether McCormick planned to
use the marijuana for medicinal purposes makes no difference in the case,
prosecutor William Bish said.
A group called the Todd McCormick Alliance is campaigning on the Internet
computer network and through marijuana legalization groups to raise money for
McCormick's $150,000 bail and legal expenses. They hope the case will draw
attention to their fight for legalized marijuana.
McCormick said the risk of arrest is worth giving other sick people the
opportunity for relief. "I'm trying to remove the criminal element," he said.
"You shouldn't have to go on the street."
UPma 08/13/95 Judge in trouble before arrest
CLEVELAND, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- When Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge
Michael Gallagher was arrested for drug use on Aug. 4, it didn't surprise those
who worked with him. They painted a picture of a troubled man with three failed
marriages, who once used his bench to advocate the legalization of drugs.
"About four of five months ago, the prosecutors mentioned that he (Gallagher)
had the appearance of being on something," recalled Carmen Marino, the first
assistant county prosecutor. "He was disheveled, his work pace had slowed down
and his docket was filling up. I was thinking of talking to a presiding judge
about him, but I decided just to lay off and see if it corrected itself."
It didn't. According to the FBI, at 11 p.m. on Aug. 3, Gallagher returned to
his duplex and challenged undercover Drug Enforcement Agency agent John Clayton
to prove he wasn't a DEA agent by snorting a line of cocaine.
The FBI avidavit says Gallagher then pulled out a drawer from a jewerly box
with two lines of suspected cocaine on top. Gallagher was arrested when he
rolled up a bill of U.S. currency that he expected the agent to use to snort the
cocaine.
Gallagher had been warned about Clayton by a prostitute and drug user that he
had occasionally employed to watch his children and three times asked her if she
would marry him, but she refused. She was suspicious of Clayton and told
Gallagher that he might be a DEA agent. Gallagher didn't believe her, and
apparently thought he could "test" Clayton with the line of cocaine.
Gallagher won his seat in 1990 and the inexperienced judge quickly became
controversial when he declared from the bench that drugs should be legalized.
Although he apologized a few days later, a reporter asked him if he ever used
drugs.
"Let's say it's been a long time -- and make any implication you want to," he
replied.
Gallagher also was in trouble with the IRS over $3,665 in unpaid taxes in
1991. He paid off the debt in 1992.
AAP 08/17/95 VIC: STUDENTS CALL FOR MARIJUANA LEGALISATION
The Australian Associated Press
MELBOURNE, Aug 17 AAP - About 150 students today applauded speakers
demanding the legalisation of marijuana and an increase in the use of hemp for
fuel, paper and cloth.
Carrying banners such as "Jesus smokes weed", "Grow more hemp" and "Bong on
in 95", the students marched from the State Library in Swanston Street to the
old police headquarters in Russell Street.
NUS national environment officer Kirstin O'Brien told the crowd that the
criminalisation of marijuana was "a form of social control".
She called for the decriminalisation of marijuana for recreational use and
said: "Hemp laws make it possible for police to target particular groups in
society."
Jamie Antonio, a volunteer for the Wilderness Society, said a hemp crop
yields four times more fibre per hectare than a forest.
He said hemp could be used as a building material, for fuel, food or paper.
Kat (Kat) Johnston, a student union representative at Melbourne University,
said hemp had been used to make paper until the start of the 20th century.
"Anything you can think of is written on hemp, Alice in Wonderland, the
Bible, our flag was initially made of hemp," she said.
The march and rally were part of an Australia-wide day of action organised
by the National Union of Students.
AAP sab/pr/jl
"It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty will be charged to
dangers, real or imagined, from abroad." --James Madison
"Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty.
The obedient must be slaves." --Henry David Thoreau, 1847
"Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own." -- Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833-1870),
"Ye Wearie Wayfarer," Fytte 8
circa 08/17/95 [untitled - Senate Candidate Wants Ban on HIV+ Foreigners]
Keep 'em all out: Robert Marshall, the suburban Chicago medical type who
wants to be in the U.S. Senate, showed himself to be a world-class meathead.
During an appearance in Springpatch where he criticized Kustra for "promoting"
marijuana use during the campaign (Kustra admits he once smoked pot), Marshall
told us he would ban people with AIDS from entering the United States because
they just "spread it around." Also, Marshall says members of Congress should be
able to decide just how many immigrants, and of what type, are permitted in
their districts. And he says only English-speaking people should be allowed to
enter the country. Guess that would have been one way to keep Kustra out of the
race.
------
UPwe 08/18/95 Man jailed on drug "mercy" trip
BRYAN, Ohio, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- A San Diego man -- who claims to be the
nation's 10 millionth person arrested on a marijuana charge -- says he was taken
into custody in Ohio while on a "mercy" trip to deliver marijuana to AIDS and
cancer patients in California.
Todd McCormick, 25, was being held in lieu of $50,000 bond Friday pending the
scheduling of a preliminary hearing. He pleaded innocent Thursday to charges
filed after Ohio Highway Patrol troopers found 32 pounds of marijuana inside a
van McCormick was driving in Williams County, about 60 miles west of Toledo, on
July 18.
Officials said McCormick claims he suffers from a rare form of cancer, and
uses marijuana for medicinal purposes under a prescription written by a
physician in the Netherlands.
McCormick said his home in San Diego is the headquarters for a "Compassion
Club," which distributes marijuana to people suffering from AIDS, cancer and
glaucoma.
In 1992, the Bush administration halted the use of marijuana for medicinal
purposes, and that prohibition was upheld by President Clinton last year.
The Family Council on Drug Awareness, based in El Cerrito, Calif., has listed
McCormick's arrest as the nation's 10 millionth marijuana arrest, based on
figures from the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws.
A letter from the group to NORML says: "Todd is a human rights activist who
was engaging in humanitarian medical relief efforts.
PR 08/21/95 BROAD RIVER CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION PRINCIPAL ARRESTED
COLUMBIA, S.C., Aug. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The school principal at the Broad
River Correctional Institution in Columbia was arrested by undercover SLED
agents Monday in connection with accepting money to take illegal drugs into the
prison.
The arrest followed a joint investigation by SLED and the S.C. Department of
Corrections.
SLED Chief Robert Stewart said Robert Paul Ulmer, 56, of 586 Rainbow Court,
West Columbia, was arrested at approximately 10:15 a.m. at a local restaurant
parking lot on Broad River Road near the prison. The meeting between Ulmer and
an undercover SLED agent occurred in Ulmer's van.
Ulmer will be formally charged Tuesday morning with possession with intent
to distribute marijuana, possession with intent to distribute marijuana within
the proximity of a school, misconduct of a public officer, and attempting to
furnish contraband. Ulmer is being held at the Richland County Detention
Center, and a bond hearing will be held Tuesday morning in Columbia.
Stewart said the contraband charge carries a possible penalty of not less
than one year or more than 10 years in prison. The possession with intent to
distribute charge carries a maximum of five years and/or $5,000 fine. The
possession within the proximity of a school carries a maximum sentence of one
year and/or $1,000.
Chief Stewart said the undercover agent gave Ulmer approximately one pound
of marijuana and $260. Ulmer agreed to smuggle the drugs into the Broad River
Correctional facility. Stewart said that after the money was accepted, Ulmer
gave back to the undercover agent a $10 bill in change.
Stewart said undercover agents first learned last week that drugs were being
smuggled into the prison by an official. He said agents later identified the
official as Ulmer.
Ulmer has been employed by the S.C. Department of Corrections since 1977.
He is assigned to the school operated at the Broad River Correctional
Institution on Broad River Road.
-0- 8/21/95
CONTACT: Hugh E. Munn, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division,
803-896-7013 or (Voice Mail) 803-758-9077.